Vice President JD Vance praised Nicki Minaj for her surprise appearance Sunday (Dec. 21) at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in Phoenix, where she also called him an “assassin” before realizing her blunder.
Vance gave Minaj credit for a point she made while in conversation with Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, about how uplifting one community doesn’t mean she’s belittling another.
“Nicki Minaj said something at Amfest that was really profound. I’m paraphrasing, but she said, ‘just because I want little black girls to think they’re beautiful doesn’t mean I need to put down little girls with blonde hair and blue eyes,” Vance wrote on X Monday (Dec. 22).
He continued to praise the rapper for rejecting those in the world who push narratives to pit people against one another. “We all got wrapped up over the last few years in zero sum thinking,” Vance added. “This was because the people who think they rule the world pit us against one another. @NICKIMINAJ
rejects that. We all should.”
During Minaj’s interview with Erika Kirk, the rap star showed a ton of love to President Donald Trump as well as VP Vance, championing them both as “amazing role models” before awkwardly referring to JD Vance as an “assassin.”
“Dear young men, you have amazing role models like our handsome, dashing president and you have amazing role models like the assassin JD Vance, our vice president,” she said before realizing her gaffe. (Charlie Kirk was a polarizing conservative activist before he was shot and killed Sept. 10 in what Utah Gov. Spencer Cox called a “political assassination.”)
Erika Kirk quickly came to Minaj’s defense and reassured her following the mistake. “Trust me, there’s nothing new under the sun that I have not heard. So you’re fine,” she said. “I love you.”
Kirk continued: “She’s an amazing woman. She has a soul and a heart for the Lord and words are words. But I know her heart and it doesn’t even matter. And you say what you want to say because I know your heart.”
Sunday wasn’t Nicki Minaj’s first speaking engagement in a political forum in recent months. In November, Minaj spoke out at a United Nations event to voice her concerns with the alleged persecution of Christians happening in Nigeria.
Watch Minaj’s full appearance at AmericaFest below.
